Constructing Ionian identities: the Ionian Islands in British official ...

the power of traditional institutions (monarchy, church), electoral reforms leading to
wider sharing of political power, individual freedoms and the rule of law. 88 In France,
the revolution was about creating a new, more open political regime, a democratic
republic that would guarantee key liberties to all citizens and provide humanitarian
reforms. 89 The revolutions in the Habsburg Empire challenged the oppressive
totalitarian regime and helped define national aspirations in parts of its Empire, such
as its German and Italian states. 90 The aim was to create a new political structure
accompanied by a new society and social order. However, other European powers,
like Denmark and the Netherlands did not experience revolutions as they relied on
the introduction of liberal constitutions.
Britain relied on preventive measures such as reformist legislation and a large
police force of special constables. Although domestically Chartist protest had risen
in the late 1840s, it failed to transform into a revolution after the failure of
Kennington Common in 1848 and marked the beginning of the end for the
movement. Margot Finn notes shared enthusiasm by both Chartists and Irish
Nationalists over the February revolution in France, which united them and posed a
threat to the government. 91 In the spring and summer of 1848 the British press was
alarmed at what appeared to be an increase in civil unrest and a universal arming of
Ireland, linked to concerns about rising Irish Nationalist sentiment. 92 Within the
Empire itself, July 1848 also saw peasant riots over a new heavy tax system which
88 Price R., The Revolutions of 1848, (London, 1988).
89 Stearns P. N., The Revolutions of 1848, (London, 1974).
90 Ibid p. 4; Hobsbawm, E. The Age of Capital, 1848-1875, (London, 1975).
91 Finn M., After Chartism, pp. 62-66.
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